FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE SCHOOL DROPOUT AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The idea of universal education was first mooted in 1955 when the universal primary education scheme was inaugurated by the government of Western Nigeria. The Eastern Nigeria government launched its own universal primary education in 1957. In Northern Nigeria, education was provided free by government in a bid to make children attend school (Adeyemi, 2007). Thus, at its onset, the universal primary education scheme had been undertaken by regional government. There was no Federal Government intervention until 1976 when the universal primary education (UPE) was launched to cover the whole country. The period of universal primary education (UPE) marks the unprecedented growth at all levels of education which includes primary, secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria. The Murtala Mohammed/Obansanjo military regime launched the UPE scheme in October 1976. The regime made primary education PROGRAM free. Universal Basic Education (UBE) is actually an expansion of UPE. Instead of ending it in primary 6, it now extended to the first three years of secondary education which is junior secondary school. The objectives of the Universal Basic Education PROGRAM are to develop the entire Nigerian citizen with a strong consciousness for education and strong commitment to its vigorous promotion; provide free Universal Basic Education for every Nigerian child of school going age and reduced drastically the incidence of drop-out from the formal school system; cater for the young persons and other out of school children or adolescents through appropriate form of complementary approaches to the universal basic education. Education is defined as permanent change in behavior as a result of learning and consists of all efforts (conscious or incidental) made by a society to accomplish set objectives, which are considered to be desirable in terms of the individual as well as the societal needs. In all human societies, particularly the modern ones, education remains one of the most powerful instruments for both the development of man and transformation of the human society.

However, the efficacy of education as an instrument of transformation depends entirely on how the government manages the project meant for the upliment of the educational system. (Abolarin, D. O. 2004) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) item two adopted by world nations in 2000 proposed that, by 2015, children of educable age should have free, aordable and accessible education. The item is a response to the world conference of “EDUCATION FOR ALL (EFA)” held in Jomitten, Thailand from 5th to 9th March 1990, which was the major trigger for the birth of basic education. The conference, which was well attended, came out with a blue print document entitled ‘World Declaration ON EDUCATION FOR ALL’ and framework of actions to meet basic learning needs. (FGN/UNICEF 2003). Nigeria as a world nation became encouraged to setup educational activities to achieve EFA goals. EFA in Nigeria could be traced back to the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the 1950’s in two of the then regions of the country and at national level in 1976. Denga (2000) contributing “our memories may be flashed back to 1950 when the universal declaration of human rights asserted that everyone has the right to education’.

The right to EFA citizens of educable age in Nigeria has witnessed a renewed determination to achieve it before the targeted 2015 as Obasanjo (2006) puts it “educating a child is closing the prison gates’. The strength of EFA cannot be overemphasized as the future of the child and nation at large depends on educational gains. The National Policy on Education (1977 revised 1981, 1985, 1998 and 2004) attest to Nigerians commitment to EFA in particular, basic education for all as each of the four policies introduced in Nigeria lays emphasis on universal, functional and qualitative education. The guiding principles of EFA in Nigeria is the “ equipping of every citizen with knowledge, skills, attitude and values as well as enable him/her derive maximum benefit from his membership of society as thus, lead a fulfilling life.

The determination of the government under the admirable leadership of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to achieve EFA by 2015, introduced the UBE PROGRAM. Launched at Sokoto on the 30th day of September 1999 but actually took o in the 2000/2001 school year. The launch became necessary as the Obasanjo’s led government came into power in 1999 and met an educational system that was in a state of decay (FGN 2004). Teachers in Basic schools complain a lot on some of the problems they encounter in other to achieve the stated objective of the policy, they are not well trained for the success of the policy, poor infrastructures in government owned schools and so many more. Even though the UBE came as a good policy to transform the education sector of Nigeria, but the policy is not meeting the desired target it was created for, it is therefore the interest of the researcher to investigate into those factors that influence the problems of UBE in Yobe state, Nigeria.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Education is the most important thing to build any society or country, the importance of education cannot be too emphasize, the greatest weapon to overcome some of the challenges tackling the economy is a good education policy. The introduction of the universal basic education is one of the best thing that has happen to the education sector but the policy cannot be meets the desired objective unless there is a good human resources to implement it. Teachers in Basic schools complain a lot on some of the problems they encounter in other to achieve the stated objective of the policy, they are not well trained for the success of the policy, poor infrastructures in government owned schools and so many more. Even though the UBE came as a good policy to transform the education sector of Nigeria, but the policy is not meeting the desired target it was created for, it is therefore the interest of the researcher to investigate into those factors that influence the problems of UBE in Yobe state, Nigeria.